Actress admits she can't stop crying on set as role role brings her emotions to the surface

THE scenic seaside setting of crime drama Broadchurch could have been swapped for the mean streets of London… if the star had her way.

Olivia Colman and David Tennant have proven to be a formidable pairing in ITV’s addictive whodunnit, which reaches its hugely anticipated climax on Monday with the revelation of the killer’s identity.

But there was a point when Colman nearly passed on the series altogether.

As a mum of two young sons, the actress has a rule that she only takes roles that allow her to get home to South East London each day – and Broadchurch was filmed in the West country.

Luckily for viewers, however, the Cambridge-educated actress, who met her writer husband Ed Sinclair while at university, hadn’t quite realised she’d be spending several months in Clevedon, Somerset, and on the cliffs and beaches of Dorset.

She laughs: “Slightly stupidly, when I took the job I didn’t realise it would be away from home. It was a shock.

“I don’t take jobs away from London because I don’t like being away from the boys. This is the longest I’ve spent away from them ever. By a long way.”

Her sons, Finn, seven, and five-year-old Hal, are at primary school. And Olivia, who plays mumsy Det Sgt Ellie Miller, reckons she missed them far more than they missed her.

Speaking on set she says: “They’ve been lovely to me here, they’ve got me home every Friday night and I’ve had a pretty easy run of it.

“It turns out it’s me that’s bothered by it – I run in and say ‘give me a kiss’ and the kids are doing their own stuff. They’re like, ‘Have you been gone?’ They’ve got their own little lives.”

Olivia plays a policewoman in the series

In the show, which has gripped seven million viewers a week for the past couple of months, Olivia plays the local cop in Broadchurch who is teamed with outsider DI Alec Hardy – played by Tennant – to solve the murder of an 11-year-old schoolboy called Danny Latimer.

As a mum of two like her character she found the plot very emotional. The 39-year-old award-winning star of Twenty Twelve, Rev and Accused says: “I’ve always been the first in the cinema to burst into tears. Since having kids I find things much rawer.

“Making Broadchurch, I couldn’t stop crying. It’s just awful, the idea that your children could go before you. I’d have a scene and they’d say, you’re not crying in this scene, and I’d think, yeah right, good luck with that.”

Her character has approached the task of identifying Danny’s killer differently from her ?stony faced and worryingly ill boss Hardy.

“These big murders don’t happen in a community ?like this and it’s horrendous because it’s a child, the ?worst possible, and a child she knows.

“She brings a heart to the case, she’s learning in order to get the right outcome. She thinks: ‘I know them, they wouldn’t do it’, while Alec is like, ‘You can’t do it like that – suspect everybody’.”

Viewers have spent the past eight weeks trying to guess who has committed the heinous crime. One possibility – which seems increasingly likely – is that Ellie’s eldest son and/or husband are involved.

Another candidate includes Pauline Quirke’s oddball character Susan Wright, who last week admitted her children had been taken away after being abused by her late husband.

Also in the frame are plumber Nigel Carter, who works with Danny’s dad Joe – also a contender – and vicar Paul Coates, who doesn’t seem quite right.

Bookies are even offering odds on suicide. Whoever it turns out to be, Olivia is desperate to keep schtum on the plot climax.

“I’ve signed so many secret documents and I’m so likely to muck it up,” she admits. “Please don’t ask me.”

She believes part of the show’s success lies in the antagonistic relationship between Miller and Hardy. “He’s slightly socially inept but brilliant at his job. It’s not like they shout at each other – it’s polite in a British way – but there’s bit of face pulling behind his back. They’re not great chums – this isn’t Cagney and Lacey.”

Olivia loved working with Tennant. “He’s the sweetest man in the world, a joy to work with,” she gushes.

The series, which is the breakout drama hit of the year, is Olivia’s first cop role – and she likes it so much is because Ellie is not typical of the breed.

BBC

The actress has enjoyed working on the show despite her difficulties

“She’s not like the archetypal cop. She’s a mum, a member of the community and she doesn’t have the speech patterns they normally use. She says sorry a lot.”

As a struggling actor, who grew up in Norfolk, she worked as a cleaner and trained as a primary teacher before getting her break.

As a teen, she battled body image issues. But these days, as she awaits next month’s Baftas, in which she’s nominated for best leading actress for Accused and best female comedy performance for Twenty Twelve – she’s pretty happy.

“It would be nice to tell my younger self, you’ll be OK,” she has said. “You can make the world work and have a brilliant time.”

And after seducing us all so thoroughly, will Broadchurch be back?

That depends if Alec makes it through Monday’s episode. And, if so, whether he survives a pacemaker op. It also remains to be seen if the dynamic duo Tennant and Colman can fit it into their busy schedules.